1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910780507503321

Autore

Benedetti Laura

Titolo

The tigress in the snow : motherhood and literature in twentieth-century Italy / / Laura Benedetti

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Ontario] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] ; ; London, [England] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 2007

©2007

ISBN

1-4426-8502-6

Edizione

[2nd ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (177 p.)

Collana

Toronto Italian Studies

Disciplina

850.9/352520904

Soggetti

Italian literature - 20th century - History and criticism

Motherhood in literature

Mothers in literature

Social change in literature

Motherhood - Italy - History - 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Mothers at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century -- Chapter 2. Resilience and Resistance: The Fascist Years -- Chapter 3. Questioning Motherhood -- Chapter 4. Struggling with the Mother -- Chapter 5. Mothers without Children -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

The Tigress in the Snow explores how literature reacted to, influenced, and shaped the evolving notion of motherhood in twentieth-century Italy. From the late-nineteenth century rhetorical celebration of the mother as Madonna, to the Fascist regime's demographic campaign and feminist revisions of the maternal role, Laura Benedetti shows how the mother's social status was a site of constant negotiation in Italy during the last century and how this negotiation came to be represented in literature. To illustrate her theme, she stresses both similarities and differences among four generations of women writers, as well as their complex interaction with their male counterparts, and their reactions to changes in Italian society. The Tigress in the Snow highlights literature's role in the formation of



cultural discourses right up to the dawn of the twenty-first century. An intriguing look at the changing nature of motherhood in a country that has always valued the maternal institution, this volume goes further to show how literature investigates, shapes, and envisions social models for the present and future.